Italian-Thai Development president Premchai Karnasuta reacts after an interrogation by Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division police on March 21. Photo: Patipat Janthong

Somsri Wattanapaisal, chief of the Office of the Public Prosecution Region 7, announced the decision today (Apr 30) after the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) endorsed it. The regional prosecution office, located in Ratchaburi province, has jurisdiction over Kanchanaburi, where the incident took place.

Premchai and three others will be indicted in the Thong Pha Phum Provincial Court in Kanchanaburi province by today, she added.

The OAG agreed on the six charges against the Italian-Thai Development president and rejected a push by police to add three more accusations against him, she said.

Prosecutors also demand financial compensation of B3 million from Premchai and three other accomplices in the poaching case.

Premchai will be prosecuted for carrying firearms in public without permission, colluding to hunt wildlife in a wildlife sanctuary without permission, hunting protected wildlife without permission, possessing protected wildlife carcasses without permission, concealing wildlife carcasses obtained illegally, and collecting wildlife items in a national forest reserve without permission.

The other three charges pursued by police were dropped, she said. According to earlier reports, they are: colluding to enter a wildlife sanctuary without permission, colluding to smuggle wildlife-poaching equipment into a wildlife sanctuary without permission, and colluding in an attempt to hunt wildlife in a wildlife sanctuary without permission.

The other three suspects – Yong Dodkhruea, Nathee Riamsaen and Thanee Thummat – will be indicted on several accounts relating to the alleged poaching in the Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Thong Pha Phum district in Kanchanaburi in February.

All were arrested on Feb 4 by rangers in the sanctuary with the carcasses of a black leopard, pheasant and barking deer. Park authorities also found three long-barrelled guns and ammunition in their possession.

It's not the law that is at fault but the evidence sufficient enough to convict, otherwise one is just wasting the Court's time. If you read the article it's about Police wanting to reinstate the 3 dropped charges.

Kurt |
01 May 2018 - 11:04:46

9 steps forward, 3 steps back, than another 3 steps forward, and now 3 steps back again.
And so they keep each other busy with...? With what?
Are the thai laws that vague?